Statement from Alexandra Sirota, Director of the Budget and Tax Center on Override of Governor’s Veto of the Budget

Despite the potential to achieve a better outcome for North Carolina, the leadership chose tonight to override the Governor’s veto of the budget, and was successful with the help of a handful of Democrats. This choice should define the nature of their leadership – a leadership that is guided by ideology, not a greater calling to serve the common good.

Those that voted tonight for the budget not only failed to take a balanced approach to the state’s challenges, they failed to grasp what was at stake in the passage of the final budget. Working families across the state will be harmed – not helped – by tonight’s vote, and their communities will be far worse off as well. North Carolina has already experienced years of significant cuts to educating our children, keeping our families safe and healthy, and protecting our rights in the courts and our environment. The impacts are clear to every parent, grandparent, child, and neighbor who recognizes their achievements through collective investment.

No other choice is more stark than the decision to keep in place a poorly targeted tax break for equity partners and wealthy North Carolinians that will do nothing to create jobs. Such misguided policy based on discredited economics presents a windfall of $3,500 to a relative few, in contrast to the meager $300 pay increase for public sector workers that the budget could provide.

Make no mistake, North Carolina took steps backwards this evening. Our leadership failed to heed to the call to serve the common good – that is ALL North Carolinians.